Town of Maynard hosts first annual Earth Day celebration

The 8-year-old tied string around twigs, and added bits of leaves, at the first annual Earth Day celebration. Later, she would float the sailboat in the Assabet River.

It was a day filled with ways to celebrate the Earth – starting with the naming of the Queen Bee at the honeybee meadow at ArtSpace – Beeopatra -- and ending with a boat launch.

The parking lot at Mill and Main was a hub of activity as the Milltown Rounders performed lively music and children and adults milled about – making Earth floats and shakers for the procession, painting rocks and their faces, and enjoying pizza and lemonade.

Dylan Skogstrom, 8, was using an electric drill to put tiny holes in his Earth float, just big enough to fit the string to tie the twigs together. His father, John Skogstrom, stood nearby, ready to lend a hand if Dylan needed one, although he admitted his son was doing quite well on his own. He said Dylan enjoys using tools and has quite the collection at home.

The third-grader was using the time to get some real-life skills.

“It’s something interesting to do,” he said, about making the tiny boat. “And I can get some experience building a real boat.”

He might like to build a boat of his own some day, but if he did, he “would definitely put an auto pilot in.”

Getting reacquainted with the Earth

Rochelle Lerner, a teacher at Maynard High School, sat on the Earth Day committee, along with several of her students from the school’s Green Committee.

Earlier in the day, she said, about 20 or so people turned out to clean the streets, filling trash bags that the DPW picked up later in the day.

In the afternoon, the students sold pizza and lemonade, for hungry revelers.

“We’re thrilled,” she said of the crowd at the celebration. “It’s amazing for the first one.”

Maynard resident Larry Schultz also helped organize the event. Last year, he tried to organize a March for Science that he later tabled.

“This one is more about getting reacquainted with the Earth,” he said.

Schultz said he hopes to make the Earth Day celebration an annual event, noting he plans to apply for grants next year. He tried this year, but said most grant funders won’t accept applications for first-time events.

As the call went out to line up for the procession to the Rail Trail walking bridge on River Street, people gathered, some in costume, some with drums, some carrying the small boats they had made. To the beat of the drum, they traipsed to the river’s edge to launch their boats, then quickly made their way to the other side of the bridge to watch as the boats meandered down the river.

As they excitedly waited for their boats to emerge, one little girl could be heard saying: “There it is.”